Chaotic Love
by x-Celly-x
Summary: Lily is spending summer break at her friends summer house, what she doesn't expect is James to be spending it in the house next door. Normally this isn't a problem as they're best friends, but after a certain incident 'friends' doesn't even cut it!
1. So it begins

Chaotic Love – Reuploaded

A/N: Hi everyone. A few years ago I started this story but I never finished it, in fact, I never got past the first chapter. I'm on holidays and I had a random thought about the story and thought, why not have another go? So if you've seen this story before, don't panic! It's not plagiarised (unless you've seen it posted by someone with a different username/on a different site - I promise, the writing is indeed mine). While I tried to go off the first chapter I wrote all those years ago, I thought it would be better if I just deleted the old story and re-uploaded it. Fresh start and all that.

At the moment I'm needing a beta reader. If anyone is up to it, I'd really love for you do it! Also if you have any suggestions (including **constructive criticism** - no flames please) for where the story is headed, please message me!

Hope you like it!

* * *

><p><span>So It Begins<span>

Lily bounded off the train laughing, closely followed by her three best friends, Alice Xavier, Mikaela Slater and Kirra- lee Rodriguez. As Kirra was stepping onto platform 9 ¾ she stumbled and was rewarded with a loud exclamation from Alice.

"OW! That's my toe!" Kirra-lee made a face and replied in a wry voice,

"Don't lie; I know that was just your natural reaction"

"…So you might have a point."

"Oh good, so I can do it again?"

The other two laughed at their friends' antics and Lily, wearing a huge grin, was reminded how much she would miss her friends once Seventh Year was finished. Her thoughts were interrupted by Mikaela's voice.

"Okay so everyone's got their stuff, yeah? We right to go?"

"Yep" Lily, Kirra and Alice chorused. Mikaela grinned, "Then let's do this!"

It was the end of their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and their group had decided they had to do something REALLY special together before their final year of schooling. Mikaela had received word that her family was to stay at their new summer house for holidays and that she was allowed to invite her three best friends. This announcement had been met with squeals of excitement, a promise of the fun-filled, action packed and most definitely LOUD holiday that was in store for the Slaters.

As the four girls were making their way to the designated pick-up spot, a feminine voice calling her name caught Lily's attention and she whirled around.

"Over here Lily!" the lady called once more. Lily grinned, having finally spotted a waving Mrs. Potter. Waving back enthusiastically she mouthed 'just a second', and turned to her friends who had been too busy chatting amongst themselves to notice the woman.

"Hey guys, let's go catch up with Mrs. Potter before we leave, yeah?" The others agreed earnestly and the four rushed over to give Eleanor Potter a hug. They had all known Mrs. Potter since they were First Years and absolutely adored her. As they began talking animatedly about the school year they heard a sharp, ear-piercing wolf-whistle and Lily turned around and grinned.

"Hey James, care to explain the monstrosity we witnessed in the Great Hall earlier?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. James grinned but pretended he hadn't heard the comment about the Marauders' slime prank on the Slytherins.

"Hey sugar!" He said cheekily, sweeping Lily up in a hug. Lily, exasperated, could only be bothered to roll her eyes.

Everyone was used to this sort of thing by now. The two had been the best of friends since they were kids, and although they had their own groups now the two still hung out together often, bringing the Marauders and Lily's group closer together as well. After this year, the two groups had basically formed into one and everyone was closer together than ever.

Sirius sauntered over with Remus and Peter, slinging an arm over Mikaela's shoulder,

"Hate to break it up lovebirds, but I'd like to know what everyone's doing for the summer." This time everyone one rolled their eyes but Sirius just stared at them blankly, "what!"

Before everyone could erupt into a 'pay-out-Sirius-in-an-exaggerated-sarcastic-voice' rant, Mrs. Potter burst in with:

"So, Miki, I heard you're staying at your new summer house these holidays, what was the address again?"

Mikaela, trying to move Sirius' arm off her shoulder, finally succeeded and replied

"Yeah, in fact my parents agreed to let all of us stay there –"

"Oh! Can I come?"

All four girls rolled their eyes and firmly said, "NO, Sirius"

"Anyway, like I was saying," Mikaela continued, "my parents are letting all of us stay there for the summer and the address is… Lily what was it again?" She turned to Lily who had just walked over, her and James' arms around each other's waist.

Lily replied straight away, "8 Azalea Parade, Little Winging, Surrey."

At this James and Sirius gasped simultaneously. Kirra glanced from one to the other, an eyebrow raised, "this can't be good."

Ignoring the twin fish (otherwise known as James and Sirius) gaping in the corner, Mikaela and Lily were listening to what Mrs. Potter was saying with confused looks on their faces.

"Oh that's right! Miki, your mum told me all about it the other day but I'm such a scatterbrain that I made no connection between the two addresses until I was on my way to the station, but then I couldn't recall if she had really said **that** address. Now that you've cleared that up – I have the most fabulous news girls!" Mrs. Potter gushed.

"Fabulous news..?" Lily asked with trepidation. Out of the corner of her eye she saw James and Sirius suddenly spring into action, shaking their heads vigorously and making wild hand gestures in an attempt to distract Mrs. Potter from continuing. The sinking feeling in Lily's stomach grew and Mikaela turned to Kirra and Alice muttering, "I really hope she doesn't say what I think she's going to say".

"Our summer house is right next door!" Mrs. Potter announced, beaming. James and Sirius slapped their hands to their foreheads simultaneously. Remus and Peter, who were also hearing this news for the first time, were surprised, but not as surprised as they were about James and Sirius' reaction to it. After all, weren't they all good friends?

In the meantime, it was the girls' turn to act like stunned mullets. Mrs. Potter was somehow oblivious to the shock on the girl's faces and continued on with her 'fabulous news'. "Oh this is so exciting, now we can plan the whole holiday with all of us TOGETHER! We can go on picnics and to the beach and all these GROUP outings TOGETHER". Not only were the girls shocked. They were now horrified.

A whole summer, their fun-filled, perfect summer...spent with the Marauders?

Alice realised that Mrs. Potter had stopped talking and was now looking at them as if they held all her hopes and dreams in their hands. The scary thing was that this analogy probably wasn't too far off seeing as all of them knew she had been playing matchmaker between Lily and James; and probably with the rest of them too – but that hadn't been confirmed yet.

Alice cleared her throat to snap her friends out of their daze and smiled weakly at Mrs. Potter, "it sounds lovely Mrs. Potter". Somehow, James' mum managed to smile wider and clapped her hands, "Now girls, it's been lovely catching up with you but I'm afraid we'd better be off. James' dad is probably wondering where we've got off to. Do you girls need a lift?"

Subtly nudging Mikaela, who still looked like a deer caught in headlights, Lily said "No thanks Mrs. Potter, we have prior arrangements with Mikaela's parents, RIGHT MIKAELA?" Mikaela shook her head as she cleared her thoughts and replied, "Oh, yes, we're going shopping first and we'll be by the house later this afternoon".

"Wonderful girls, see you soon!" With that Mrs. Potter flounced away happily, calling, "Meet you at the car boys! Don't be too long now", to the suspiciously quiet Marauders.

Once she was out of sight all four girls turned to the Marauders with glowering expressions. The boys gulped nervously. Smiling sweetly, Lily walked towards James, "Oh James...why do you do this to yourself?"

As quick as lighting, she had grabbed his ear and was pulling it while he yelped in pain, "HOW COULD YOU NOT WARN US?" "I'm sorry! I forgot about it okay?"

"JAMES POTTER, I swear to Merlin..."

The others watched in fascination as the almighty James Potter, Quidditch Captain, prospective Head Boy and ladies man quietly had his head handed to him on a platter by a **girl**. Admittedly, a ferocious, red-headed girl; but a girl nonetheless.

Sirius turned to the others and cheerfully stated "well, he's a goner... so what's up everyone?" "Hold on," Remus said, "I don't get **why** he's a goner? What's wrong with us being next door to you guys?" Sirius snickered and said, "Boy, you're in for a shocker Moony. Peter, let's go and ask Mrs. P if she's got any food. I'll tell her you and Jamie will be right there Remy-boy. See you ladies later." Leaving them with a wink and a wave, he sauntered off in the same direction Mrs. Potter had gone in with Peter trotting after him, rejuvenated by the thought of food.

Mikaela patted Remus on the back, chuckling as he stared after his friend, confused as ever. As he looked at her he smiled wryly, "are you going to explain it to me then? He's absolutely useless" he said, jerking his head in the direction Sirius and Peter and wandered off in.

"Well, what he meant was that now that Mrs. P knows that we're living next door to you guys she's going to plan out our whole holiday. You heard her, right? JOINT outings, GROUP gatherings. The parents will want us to spend the whole summer together! Which we wouldn't mind too much, but we'll have no choice in the matter. I assume you know what Mrs. P is like around holiday time. Now that all you boys are home she'll want to celebrate with formal dinners and the like. Actually I can almost guarantee that she makes us help her organise a ball..."

Remus furrowed his eyebrows, "I'm sorry, I'm still not understanding why this is such a huge problem? You guys don't want to hang out with us?"

Kirra jumped in this time, "It's not that we don't want to hang out with you Remy, it's just that...we wanted to do our own thing this summer. You know? Make our own plans, we probably would've invited you along sometimes too. But Miki's parents love the Potters, and vice versa, so they'll want us to spend as much time together as possible. You know how Lily and James get when they spend too much time together."

All the girls looked pointedly at Lily and James, where they witnessed Lily smacking James upside the head and James looking down at the ground meekly. Alice groaned, "They're going to be impossible this summer. We really have to do something about them."

Mikaela grinned, "You're right Ali!" Lowering her voice she said, "I have the perfect idea to make our summer both fun and interesting, and it stars our two lovebirds over there." Looking over her shoulder, she noticed that James and Lily were walking towards them. Hurriedly she said, "there's no time to explain now! We'll have to meet later to discuss it. I'll owl you guys when the time is right. Quick, look casual!"

Remus cleared his throat and looked over nonchalantly at Lily and James. "Everything sorted then?" he smirked at James, who was looking rather worse for wear, while Lily looked triumphant. Lily grinned happily at Remus saying, "Everything's great Remus!" She hugged him and said, "We'd better be off, we don't want to be late for dinner and you guys should probably get to Mrs. Potter. See you later!"

The rest of the girls said their goodbyes, and as they walked away Lily called, "Bye Jamie!" in a sing-song voice. James simply poked his tongue out at her receding form, rather childishly. Watching James' reaction to Lily and thinking back to the conversation he had been in with the girls just before, Remus chuckled, "Oh boy..."

"What?" James said. Remus just shook his head, still smirking, "nothing mate, let's get to the others."


	2. Just Think About It

A/N: Hi again guys! I can't tell you how exciting it was to open my email and find all these fanfic alerts from people who have favourite my story! I'm also extremely grateful to my first reviewer, Megaaan D! Well..technically you're my 5th reviewer, counting the other four who reviewed the first upload of my story...but still! THANK YOU! =D

There isn't a lot of Lily/James in this chapter, but I promise there will be in the next one. As always, if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Also, I realise that I forgot to put a disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter 1 so here is my disclaimer for the whole story:

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own any of the characters, buildings or organisations created by J.K. Rowling (who is absolutely fantastic, by the way) and do not take credit for how amazing the world of Harry Potter is.

* * *

><p><strong>Previously<strong>_: '... As they walked away Lily called, "Bye Jamie!" in a sing-song voice. James simply poked his tongue out at her receding form, rather childishly. Watching James' reaction to Lily and thinking back to the conversation he had been in with the girls just before, Remus chuckled, "Oh boy..."_

_"What?" James said. Remus just shook his head, still smirking, "nothing mate, let's get to the others."'_

* * *

><p><strong>Just Think About It<strong>

"Finally!" Mikaela moaned. Lily laughed and hugged her, "Sorry guys! I really didn't think it would take so long...well, who really expected Mrs. P to give us such 'FABULOUS NEWS'" she said sarcastically. They all laughed as they remembered how excited Mrs. Potter looked even though the rest of them had looked far from happy at the news she had shared.

"Oh well, at least we can be sure that there won't ever be a boring moment this summer!" Kirra-lee said as the laughter died down. Mikaela snorted, "you can say that for sure." Suddenly Alice jumped on Mikaela yelling "SURPRISE TACKLE HUG!" The laughter started up again as Mikaela gasped in shock and tried to balance as Alice held on tight. "What on earth Alice?" "Oh come on Miki-ki-ki! We're about to start the BEST SUMMER EVER, we won't let those boys get in the way of our fun will we?" said Alice. "You know she's right" Lily said, ever the reasonable one. Mikaela smiled, "Yeah, I know", adjusting Alice's position on her back she said, "We have the whole summer ahead of us. Now, LET'S GO SHOPPING!" "ONWARD!" Alice yelled, pointing ahead of them as if Mikaela were her noble steed. As they rushed ahead Lily shook her head and looked at Kirra, "They're so crazy." "You have to admit that it makes things exciting. Even if I'm not as crazy as they are, they make me feel like I'm a spontaneous person. It's fun!" Kirra-lee replied. Just then, they heard Mikaela say, "...Ali? Did you seriously call me Miki-ki-ki?" Lily and Kirra-lee chuckled before following them.

Mikaela's parents had allowed them to make a trip to Diagon Alley before they returned to the summer house, a sort of 'celebratory shopping trip'. Lily wasn't quite sure how going shopping really celebrated their completion of Sixth Year. When Lily had voiced this thought to Mikaela, Mikaela had chuckled and said, "It's like celebrating that summer is here, as well as our finishing our second last year of schooling! We'll get swimsuits and whatnot..." Lily had looked at her sceptically, eyebrow raised, until Mikaela finally relented. "Yes, it's also just an excuse to go shopping." Lily smiled at the memory, looking up as her friends stopped at the large black door which would lead them to The Leaky Cauldron.

Once they had entered the small pub, Mikaela turned to them and said "Do you guys want to stop and get some butterbeer and some food maybe?" The others agreed and they went and sat down. This may have seemed spontaneous but, unbeknownst to Lily, Mikaela had an ulterior motive for stopping. Exactly as Mikaela had anticipated, Lily had offered to take everyone's orders. Once Lily was at the counter, out of earshot, Mikaela leaned forward and spoke quickly and quietly to the others. "Okay, I do want to eat, but this is also part of that plan I was talking about. We need to, as subtly as possible, get Lils to tell us what she thinks about James. What she likes or doesn't like, what makes her annoyed with him, all that jazz. Got it?" Alice and Kirra-lee nodded. "Alright team here she comes, remember, **subtlety is required**. If she catches wind of what we're doing the plan will ruined."

They quickly straightened up and Mikaela casually let out a surprisingly natural peal of laughter. Alice and Kirra-lee quickly caught on and grinned, also laughing. "What's so funny everyone?" Lily asked. "We were just remembering how funny it was to watch you and James earlier today," Mikaela lied smoothly. The other two looked at her, impressed. Not only had she provided a cover story, she had segued into the topic of Lily and James without arousing Lily's suspicions.

Lily shook her head, "that boy annoys the living daylights out of me sometimes, honestly". Just as she said this, the waiter arrived with their food and butterbeer, effectively distracting Lily as Alice and Kirra-lee made bowing gestures towards Mikaela and Mikaela smiled smugly, exaggeratedly smoothing her hair in an "I'm-just-that-good" manner. As Lily turned back around they all pretended to be mighty interested in their food. After a few minutes of silent eating, Mikaela decided it was time to broach the subject again and lightly kicked Alice's foot, gesturing towards Lily with her eyes. Alice subtly nodded and cleared her throat, "So Lils, do you think you'll find it annoying to have James and the boys around for the whole summer?"

"Hmm.. I'm not sure really. I mean I tend to find him annoying in general so I don't think it will be particularly worse over the summer. I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Lily replied.

"You still find him annoying? You've known him since First Year! You know that's just what he's like" Kirra-lee said.

Lily sighed, "I know, yet somehow he still manages to find new ways to annoy me." "You mean like that time he made a huge spectacle out of that Seventh Year who asked you out on Valentine's Day last year?" Mikaela said. "Haha, yeah, when he used a spell to hang banners shaped like lovehearts everywhere with the guy's face on it with 'I love Lily Evans' underneath..." Kirra-lee sniggered before coughing as Lily looked at her, unimpressed. "Yes, Kirra. Exactly like that."

"So it annoys you when he pulls stunts like that?" Alice asked. "Of course it does Ali! Wouldn't you be annoyed too? He scared the poor guy off. He's constantly interfering in my life even though he has no right too. I can date whoever I want and I think I'm well and truly capable of making my own decisions" Lily exclaimed.

"Have you ever considered why James does things like that though?" Mikaela asked. "Of course, he thinks he knows better than I do what boys think. He wants to protect me, blahblahblah. He's told me all this before."

"Hmm. Maybe that's true, but maybe that's also a cover story" Alice said. Lily stared at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Really Lils? You can't think of **any** other reason a boy would want to stop another boy from dating a girl?" Kirra-lee asked. The three girls stared at Lily meaningfully and with that, they continued eating in silence, leaving Lily to ponder their words.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the boy's end, the boys had made it back to Mrs. Potter and they were now on their way home after having stopped at Florean Fortescue's for sundaes. Once they had all landed on the grass of the Potter's front lawn, Mrs. Potter put away the pocket watch she had used as a portkey and opened the front door for them. As they entered the foyer, they were greeted with a boisterous "HELLO BOYS!" James and Sirius rushed over to the man, crashing into him with their enthusiastic bear hug and exclaiming "DAD!" Remus and Peter simply watched from afar as the three wrestled on the ground, "I will never understand that" Peter said. Sirius had taken to calling Mr. Potter 'dad' after the Potter's had taken him. Following Sirius' renouncement of the Black family's allegiance to the Dark Lord Voldemort, Sirius' parents had disowned him, leaving him homeless and knutless without access to the Black family fortune. The Potter's very much considered Sirius a second son, in fact, they treated all of James' friends like family.<p>

Mr. Potter stood up and hugged Remus, shaking Peter's hand, "How have you been Remus? Peter? It's good to see you both." "Hello sir, it's great to see you too. I hope you and Mrs. Potter have been well," Remus replied. "Now, now Remus, I've told you time and again, there's no need for formalities! You can call me James senior. You can even call me uncle! Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?" Mr. Potter grinned. Remus smiled back, "It sure does...sir". Mr. Potter laughed, "let's go ask mum for some supper then!"

As they walked through the foyer to the dining room, which was attached to the kitchen, they discovered Mrs. Potter just finishing off a Floo call.

"...Oh Marie, I so look forward to seeing you and Dorian again! Yes, we'll be there at 6 tonight. Bye now!"

Just as she ended the call, Mr. Potter caught her about the waist and swung her around, holding her tightly. Mrs. Potter squealed as she came face to face with her husband. "Busy making plans, as usual my sweet?" he asked. Mrs. Potter giggled and pecked him on the cheek, "you know me too well darling." She turned to the boys and said "We're having dinner with the Slaters boys, 6PM sharp! Run along and get ready dearests."

As Mr. and Mrs. Potter walked away, still flirting like teenagers, James pretended to gag but Sirius only smiled. It was one of the rare moments where the two weren't in sync with their emotions and reactions. While James had experienced this display of emotion his whole life, and had grown up without much thought for it; Sirius had grown up in a home where his parents never showed their affection publicly, not even to their children. So much so that Sirius had a hard time believing his parents felt true love for each other given that theirs had been an arranged marriage to maintain purity ad wealth in the bloodlines.

"One day lads, I want to be like that with a bird," Sirius remarked. James and Peter stared at him aghast, "**you** want to be **like them** one day?" James asked carefully. Remus patted Sirius on the back, looked at James seriously and said, "Well, don't you?"

Remus' words rang in James' ears as walked upstairs to his room to get dressed for dinner. Did he want that with someone one day?

* * *

><p>At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the girls had finally arrived at the Slater's summer house exhausted and all carrying at least two bags from their shopping spree. Lily, while not having completely forgotten the conversation she'd had with the girls earlier, had put the issue to the back of her mind for the moment. The shopping trip had been exactly what she needed, and it was more fun than she had expected. The girls had tried things on, just for fun, laughed a lot and talked about their plans for the summer. It had filled her with excitement and she was definitely looking forward to many more days like this with her girls throughout the break.<p>

They had taken the Floo Network to get from Diagon Alley. As they each stepped through the fireplace, Mikaela yelled out "We're home!"

Mrs. Slater came bustling into the living room, immediately hugging and kissing Mikaela, before doing the same with Lily, Alice and Kirra-lee. Once they had all exchanged greetings, Mrs. Slater clapped her hands together and said, "You've perfect timing girls! It is four now and we'll be having dinner at six thirty. Now, we have guests tonight; Isabella, you know, James' mother, called earlier and I've invited them to eat with us. They'll be here at six. "

The girl's glanced at each other meaningfully – things were going exactly as they had expected once Mrs. Potter had broken the news.

"I'm ecstatic to see you all again girls, especially you darling," she hugged Mikaela again, "but you'll understand if I rush off to finish helping the house elves prepare for dinner won't you? It's busy, busy, busy around our household, as always," Mrs. Slater laughed thrillingly. "You girls had better go upstairs so you can unpack and get yourselves ready. Mikaela, it's on the third floor. See you in a few hours!" She waved goodbye and bustled off as quickly as she had come in.

"Well... that was... brief" Mikaela said, with a short burst of laughter. She looked at her friends, "she never stops, I swear. Anyway, I think you'll like what mum and dad have set up for us. I personally think it's the coolest thing ever but, you know, that's just me." They all laughed, "if you think it's cool, we'll probably think it's fabulous," Kirra-lee said.

Mikaela snapped her fingers and a house elf in a cute, white summer dress that had been shrunk to fit her tiny frame appeared. When she saw the girls, her eyes widened, her large ears perked up and her small mouth split into a smile, "Misses! The misses are home! What can Squeaky do for misses?"

The girls smiled affectionately at the elf. They had known Squeaky since Third Year, having met the Christmas break after the Slater's had saved Squeaky from a man the Ministry of Magic (where Mikaela's father worked) had apprehended in Nocturne Alley. The Ministry had found the man guilty of illegally freeing house elves from various households and then selling them off to other families for a profit. Worse than this, the man had mistreated the elves. Mr. Slater had come across Squeaky bruised, bloodied and with several broken bones and had taken pity on her. The Ministry had allowed him to take her home and she was now a much loved elf who came with the Slater's wherever they went.

"Hello Squeaky," they chorused. "Could you move our luggage to the common room on the Third Floor for us Squeaky? That would be fantastic," Mikaela said. "Of course Miss. Mika, Squeaky will do so right away!" and with a puff of smoke the little house elf disappeared with their bags.

"I still find it cute that she calls you Mika," Alice said. Mikaela rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, "this way all!"

The four girls trooped up two flights of stairs, laughing and chatting the whole way. As they reached the top floor Mikaela squealed with glee and ran forward, jumping on a bean bag and clutching onto a pillow, grinning at them. Bringing up the rear, Lily craned her head trying to see what was going on as Alice, who had been behind Mikaela, had stopped abruptly.

"Woah guys, what's going on?" Lily asked, only to receive silence. "Alice, moveee." Still nothing. "Kirra, can you tell Alice to move please," Lily tried once more, pushing Kirra-lee on the back slightly. Neither of them budged. Lily rolled her eyes, "oh for goodness' sake-" she pushed the two of them aside and made her way to the top of the stairs. Turning around without bothering to look at the room she glowered at her two friends, "Seriously guys, you had to stop right there? Just stop when you're **on** the floor..." She suddenly noticed that both of them were standing there, mouths agape, looking absolutely gobsmacked. She turned around and her jaw dropped.

As it turns out, the Third Floor was completely made for them. The top of the staircase lead to an open, rounded room. The floor was covered in a soft, cream carpet and was artfully decorated with bean bags and pillows which were situated in front of a large high-definition plasma television which was built into the wall. This wall also served as a bookcase, with a multitude of books surrounding the TV.

Walking forward slowly, Lily let her eyes wander further over the room. She hadn't noticed before, but at the back of the room there were four doors spaced equally apart in the curved wall. Each door was made of polished wood, painted white with gold linings and doorknobs. As she stood in front of the first door, the gold brass plate in the middle of the door shimmered and Alice's name appeared on it in cursive writing. Shocked at what this implied, Lily quickly walked to each of the doors and stood in front of them, confirming her suspicions.

She turned to Mikaela, who was currently grinning like the cat who'd got the canary. "Your parents..."

"Built you all your own rooms? And this floor for us to stay in whenever we want? Yes, that's exactly right." Mikaela finished for her.

By now, Kirra-lee and Alice had woken from their stupor and had been exploring the other side of the room.

"Lils, you'd love this book collection," Alice said.

"COOL! THERE'S A KITCHEN!" Kirra-lee exclaimed. She walked out eating a Chocolate Frog.

Suddenly they all heard a 'click-_WHOOSH_' and a whirring noise. They all turned to Alice who had taken down a book from the shelf. "My bad..." she said. Their gazes shifted to the bookshelf. The bookshelf had moved inwards and was now proceeding to swivel slowly. Once it had made a complete 180 degree turn it moved back into position. Now, what once had been a bookshelf was an entertainment centre, filled with DVD's and several gaming consoles. There were drawers full of gaming accessories.

"Mum and dad said if there's anything in particular we want we should ask the house elves." Mikaela noted.

"I can't believe your parents did all this for us Miki," Lily said, in awe of the room.

Mikaela shrugged, "You guys are family. It's only right that you have a place in our home. Even if this home is only temporary, haha."

Kirra-lee sniffed and said, "Way to make me all teary..."

"Come here you big dope" Mikaela said, gathering Kirra-lee in a hug. Alice and Lily joined in, "this is definitely the best summer ever" Alice said.

After a few moments, they broke away from their group hug. "So, what now?" Alice asked.

Lily checked her watch, "well, it's quarter to five now. That leaves us just over an hour to be ready for when the boys get here."

Mikaela nodded, "Right, then I say that we get settled in then get showered and dressed and meet up here, in the common room at about ten to." The girls agreed and went their separate ways.

Lily walked into her room, once again marvelling at how her name appeared on the door. Pulling on the handle, she entered the room and let her eyes take stock. It was decided. She was never going home again.

The room was exactly to her taste. She had a four poster bed, at the foot of which was a chest which she could keep her belongings. The wall on the opposite side of the room was made entirely of glass, allowing her to see the beautiful view of the beach not far from the house. The entire room was decorated in cream, white satin and gold trimmings giving off a nice summery vibe. On the side of the room facing the bed, to the left of the door, there was a cupboard with a full length mirror attached. When she opened it she found that all of her dresses had already been hung, her bags and shoes arranged neatly. There was an in-built set of drawers within the cupboard which contained her make-up, toiletries and some of her clothes.

Lily calmly shut the cupboard and turned around. Suddenly, her previously solemn face broke into a grin, walked to her bed and fell on it, sprawling herself on the cool satin sheets, "I love magic."

* * *

><p>While Lily was enjoying her new room the rest of the girls were about to make contact with Remus about the plan. Once Mikaela was sure that Lily had gone into her room she had quietly retrieved Alice and Kirra-lee from their own rooms. They were currently writing a letter outlining the details of when they would meet the boys about what they liked to call Operation 'Make a Move, Lovebirds!" (or MAML, pronounced 'mammal', in code).<p>

The girls had decided that their first group meeting should be held tonight, once dinner was over and the parents left the kids to their own devices. They would suggest a bonfire night out on the beach to celebrate their first night of freedom, and at some point they would leave Lily and James time to themselves either make them go for a walk or purposely leave them alone somewhere. The hope was that the ambient mood and their time alone would encourage them to talk and maybe begin to see each other in a new light. This way, Operation MAML wouldn't have to be too complicated. Furthermore, leaving the two alone would give both parties time to talk about their mission.

Once the letter was finished, Mikaela tied it to the leg of her tawny owl, Ezra, and sent it off to Remus. She turned to look at Alice and Kirra-lee, "And now we wait."


	3. The Things We Do For You Two

A/N: Hello all of you beautiful people! I'm terribly sorry for the delay in this chapter. Thank you very much to Married-to-Punk for helping me out with this Chapter! :). Thank you, once again, to all of you who reviewed or favourited my story or put it on their alert list. It makes me so happy that you guys enjoy reading what I write.

Now, on with the show!

* * *

><p><strong>Previously: <strong>_Once the letter was finished, Mikaela tied it to the leg of her tawny owl, Ezra, and sent it off to Remus. She turned to look at Alice and Kirra-lee, "And now we wait."_

* * *

><p><span>The Things We Do For You Two<span>

Following her happy exploration of her new room and her short respite on her luxurious bed, Lily's mood was somewhat dampened by the sight of a familiar owl at her window. Sighing, she opened the window to let Alethia, James' owl, inside. She had named Alethia herself, at James' request. It meant 'wisdom' in Greek and was very fitting for the regal-looking bird.

"Hey girl, another letter for me?" she petted Alethia, smiling gently as the owl cooed at her. She wasn't really mad at James. Not anymore at least. But the presence of Alethia had reminded her of the relentless barrage of thoughts and turmoil that she had been striving to keep under wraps since Mikaela, Alice and Kirra had spoken to her earlier on. She wasn't ready yet to face the implications of what they had said, even though she knew with growing trepidation that the time was drawing near when she wouldn't be able to ignore it any longer.

Although they argued often about petty things, James was still Lily's closest friend, the one constant that had been in her life even before her girlfriends. He knew her inside and out and she found it hard to conceal anything from him. She certainly could, but she didn't like to do it unless there were good reasons.

She could almost guarantee that he would notice she was uneasy in his presence, because of this and the thought of having to lie to him until she was ready to talk about it pained her.

The letter that Alethia brought was just so James, that it had Lily chuckling despite her worries.

_Lily-bean,_

_You're not still mad are you? How long can you stay mad at your bestest friend and favouritist person in the whole world? If you don't reply with an acceptable response I'll be forced to take drastic measures and fly over there myself, and I won't be happy about it young lady!_

_Who are we kidding, I love flying...and sneaking into your room? Even better. That last deserves a wink but that's a bit of an awkward face to put on paper. Anyway, I think I deserve to see your room._

_Be there in 5?_

_And just remember, love means never having to say you're sorry – and you know you love me, therefore I should be automatically forgiven, yes?_

_Your Bestest and Favouritist Friend,_  
><em>Jamie xxx<em>

No matter how mad he made her, he always knew exactly what to say to make her laugh and once she had laughed she found it hard to go back to being angry.  
>She knew that if she didn't reply soon he would actually come to her window, so she penned a quick reply saying that they were fine and that she would see him at dinner, not at her window, and sent Alethia on her way.<br>As she watched the majestic owl fly across to the house next door her thoughts flew unbidden to what Mikaela had said. She stole another glance at James' letter. How could there possibly be another reason for James' behaviour over her. So he was protective? She was protective of him too. He was her oldest friend for Merlin's sake! No, her friends simply didn't know James as well as she did.

Even as she thought this, she stole another glance at his last words, reading them over and over again as her pulse increased and her breath hitched in her throat. _Just friends_, she thought firmly. Just friends.

* * *

><p>Remus was in his room picking out some clothes to wear for dinner. He found that dinners with the Potters, while highly enjoyable and humorous, often called for some formality. His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden <em>tap, tap, tap <em>at his window. His head jerked up at the noise and he spotted an owl hovering outside, wings flapping as it tried to stay in his sight. He opened the window and allowed it to fly inside, noticing that it had a piece of parchment attached to its leg with his name on it in neat cursive. Curious now, he removed the string from the owl's leg and opened the letter:

"_Remus, _

_Throughout the course of the afternoon we managed to initiate the plan to get Lily and James together (which we have decided will formally be known as Operation 'Make a Move, Lovebirds!' – MAML in code)."_

"_..Lily told us that she finds James annoying, but I think we all know that she really cares for him quite a lot, just as she loves the rest of us. Moreover, we have reason to believe that her annoyance could stem from an underlying affection which cannot simply be put down to their platonic relationship as best friends. Once we determined this, we hinted that James might have feelings for her. In order to save time (and effort) this is all we'll tell you about our conversation with Lily for now, as we believe this contains the most important information that you will need to share with Sirius and Peter when you bring them up to speed with the plan. Please do this before dinner tonight as we plan to have a meeting shortly after. Once you have spoken with Sirius and Peter and they have given the all clear we will send you details of when and where the meeting is being held. Feel free to owl us if you have questions!_

_Mikaela, Alice and Kirra-lee."_

Remus smirked at their code name for the plan before finding a quill, parchment and ink to scrawl a reply:

"_Girls, _

_I'll talk to Sirius and Peter right away. Expect a reply in about 10 to 20 minutes._

_Remus." _

He tied the parchment to the owl and watched it fly across the way to the house next door. Walking to his bedside table, he picked up his watch and took note of the time whilst placing it on his wrist. "Hm, quarter past five. Better get a move on" he muttered to himself. He dressed quickly and, making sure to grab the letter, he left the room, shutting the door behind him without a backwards glance. Making sure that James was nowhere to be seen, he knocked quietly on Peter's door. "Wormtail...Wormtail...oi Peter! " He hissed. He heard a faint grunt of acknowledgement from inside, "Get out here!" A few moments later the door opened to reveal the mousy looking boy, "come on, we've gotta get Padfoot."

They walked silently to Sirius' door and Remus knocked quietly. They heard a faint "Come in" from within and Remus opened the door, hurried Peter inside and closed it after once again making sure that James was out of sight. When he turned, Sirius was watching his quick and careful movements with interest. Peter sat on Sirius' bed while Sirius lounged in his desk chair, "So, what's with the hush hush Moony?"

Remus checked his watch, 5:20 PM, the girls would be expecting a reply soon. "Okay, I need to explain this quickly to you because we don't have a lot of time. I know you're probably going to have things to say, but I'd ask that you leave it until the end of my explanation so that we don't keep the girls waiting."

"The girls? What? What do they have to do with anything?" Sirius said, both concerned and puzzled. "I'll explain in due time Padfoot. Now, earlier this afternoon when you both left I was talking to the girls. We were watching Prongs and Lils fight, as they were when you left. Mikaela suddenly suggested that we should try and get them together. The girls are pretty determined and they want our help. They asked me to talk to you guys about it so they could decide whether or not they should go ahead with it. They've already talked to Lily a bit, as far as I know. But I only know a little bit from this letter that they sent me about five minutes ago," Remus said, waving the letter around. "I told them to expect a reply in ten to twenty minutes."

The room was enveloped in silence. Remus stared at Sirius, gauging his reaction while Sirius stared blankly in Remus' direction. Peter kept glancing back and forth at the both of them. Finally, after what seemed like an age, Sirius cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak. The other two waited with bated breath. "So... let me just see if I have this correct. The girls are devising a plan which they hope will result in our mate, Prongs, and Lily, entering into a romantic relationship, without them knowing that we've had a hand in it? A plan which will most likely involve us planning out various romantic scenarios in the hope that the two will eventually kiss and live happily ever after? And they want our help to do it?"

Remus blinked once, amazed at the rare seriousness and intelligence Sirius had just responded with. "Yes. That's exactly right."

Sirius was silent once more, thoughtfully tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair. Remus and Peter were slightly concerned. Sirius was hardly ever silent, let alone thoughtful. Remus saw Peter open his mouth to say something in the corner of his eye and quickly stopped him with a sharp look and a firm shake of his head. They were in unknown territory here, it was best to let Sirius make the first move. Remus wasn't sure how he would respond to being asked to interfere in his best friend's love life. Of course, Sirius wouldn't mind hooking James up with a random date with a good-looking bird, but they were talking about getting ladies man, James Potter, into a serious relationship with the studious, responsible Lily Evans.

"Tsk. I don't like this Moony" Sirius said. "Go on" Remus said. Sirius sighed, "I don't know Moony. There are a lot of factors to consider here. First and foremost, is this right? Is it right for us to interfere here? We'd all be influencing the both of them, their emotions and their thoughts - it's practically coercion."

"I agree that we'd be influencing their thoughts, but think about it. The way James reacts around her? While we Marauders always enjoy a good prank fest, the extremes that he goes to for her are more than he does with anyone else. Like that Valentine's day stunt? If that were anyone else, he would never have bothered with it. In fact, he'd probably encourage a guy to ask any other girl in our year out. Any girl except Lily."

"He's protective over the other girls too" Sirius rebutted. "Yes, and yet none of them are able to make him act the way Lily does. Who else but Lily can get him to shut up or to think about what he's done. I mean, you saw what happened this afternoon! If that were anyone else, even the other girls, James would have been arguing back, retorting witty snips at them; not quietly taking it as he did with Lily. She has power over him that no one else does."

"Fine, I admit that this is true, but who's to say that their relationship is actually based on feelings other than deep friendship? They've been best friends since First Year for Merlin's sake! She's as close to James as I am, maybe even closer."

"Exactly!" Remus pointed out, "Doesn't that make them perfect for each other?"

Sirius sighed and passed a hand over his face, "I don't know Moony...Another thing, why does it have to be a secret? If what you're saying is right, why can't we just tell Jamie outright? We're his friends, he'd listen to us. Just as Lily would listen to Miki and Ali and Kirra."

"You're right, but what do you think is going to happen if he asks Lily out? He'll probably act like his usual playboy self and that would offend Lils. Furthermore, I imagine that if the girls suggested that James like Lily and vice versa to Lily herself, she'd run like a deer in headlights. She's a smart witch, but sometimes she can be clueless. With us to guide them, to be their mediators, I think they'd be more willing to open up to each other about whatever possible feelings they might have. Who knows, there might be nothing there, but at least this way we'll know either way."

"I guess you're right," Sirius grudgingly admitted. Remus could tell that Sirius was beginning to relent. "Just say that I agreed to this...theoretically... how would we keep the two from discovering our plan? That's going to be mighty hard considering how close we all are. Particularly our actual close proximity this summer."

"Now that, I don't know the answer to. The girls have a plan apparently."

"Fine" Sirius said. "...Does this mean you agree?" Remus asked cautiously. "Yes, yes, fine I agree to the stupid plan. If they're going to do this they'll need our help." Remus grinned, "That's for sure."

* * *

><p>Mikaela was in the middle of throwing her clothes around her room in an attempt to find an outfit to wear to dinner. After she had sent the letter to Remus she realised what little time she had to prepare. When she, Alice and Kirra-lee had separated ways it was already quarter past five in the evening, leaving her with a mere 45 minutes to shower, dress, apply some light make-up and tame her wild raven locks.<p>

Currently it was now 5:30 PM, thirty minutes before dinner, and Mikaela still hadn't done any of those things. She had spent the last 15 minutes trying to find an outfit to wear. Apart from that she was still waiting for Remus' reply to their letter. If and when the girls were given the green light to set MAML in motion, Mikaela would also have to find the time to persuade her parents to let them stay out at the beach after dinner. Needless to say she was feeling a little stressed. Finally she let out a yell, throwing yet another failed outfit attempt in a random direction behind her.

Unfortunately, Lily chose this moment to open the door and was hit directly in the face with the flying pile of clothes. "Um...hi?" she greeted her best friend cautiously. Mikaela gasped with shock, turning fast enough to give herself whiplash. With her hand on her chest she glared at Lily, "Woman! Has no one told you never to sneak up on a girl while she's on a mission?"

"Um...no..." Lily let out an indecipherable set of muffled noises as she tried to speak through the pile of clothes still on her face. Mikaela stared at her blankly, "You're going to have to repeat that, in English." Lily slowly peeled the clothes off, one by one, and repeated herself, "I _said_, no; no one has ever told me that because I'm fairly sure that's not a real saying!" She placed her hands on her hips and stared hard at Mikaela, "Now, what's with the flying clothes? You seem stressed, which is a highly non-Miki thing to be. What's going on?"

Mikaela let out a frustrated groan and flopped onto her bed. "Ugh, it's 5:30 and I **still** haven't found a freaking outfit, not to mention that I let Ali and Kirra have the shower first since I know I take a fairly long time and I figured it would give me time to sort an outfit. Kirra's still in there and you know how long my hair takes to fix when it's wet!" Mikaela wailed. _"Not to mention that the boys are taking forever to reply! How hard is it to scrawl out a message saying YAY or NAY?" _she growled in her head.

Lily, completely unaware of Mikaela's internal yelling, sat on the bed next to her and patted her on the arm. "Sssh, it's going to be fine, silly! You have half an hour to get ready. Kirra should be out of the shower soon and I know Ali is already ready so how about we help you find an outfit? Then after you finish showering we'll even do your make-up and hair for you. How does that sound?"

Mikaela smiled at her best friend. Even though Lily had no idea about the true source of Mikaela's stress, she still managed to make her feel better. Lily was the kindest person she had ever met, and the best friend anyone could ever have. Mikaela wanted her to be happy and she just knew that James, as annoying as he was sometimes, could be the person to make that happen.

"That sounds awesome. Are you sure? Have you finished getting ready?" Mikaela asked. "You know me right? I was finished about 10 minutes ago" Lily smirked. Mikaela sat up and rolled her eyes, "Of course you were." Lily hugged her, smiling and stood up to walk out of the room, "I'll go and get Ali."

Just after Lily left the room Mikaela heard a familiar tapping noise on her window. She quickly opened it to find an unfamiliar owl in. She had never seen an owl like it before. She made a mental note to ask whoever owned it what kind of owl it was the next time she saw him. She untied the parchment from the owl's leg and opened it, her eyes skimming across the neat scribble on the page:

"_Hello girls, _

_We're in, however, Sirius has some concerns which he insists you take into consideration before we commence with anything major. He also asks me to tell you that if you would like our help (which he believes you will fail without) then he has some conditions that must be met. _

_Yes, I told him that sounds a bit like blackmail but he insisted that I tell you. _

_Yes, he is insisting a lot of things today. _

_Anyway, send Finn back with the details of when and where to meet you._

_Remus"_

Just then, she heard Alice and Lily in the corridor, laughing at something. She wouldn't have enough time to send a proper reply, but she couldn't not send a reply because otherwise Remus' owl wouldn't leave. Alice and Lily's voices grew louder and Mikaela knew she only had a few seconds to send some sort of reply. Grabbing a piece of parchment she hastily told Remus she'd send the details when she knew them.

She quickly but carefully shoved it into Finn's mouth and urged him out the window. The owl let out an indignant squawk as Mikaela poked his back to try and make him leave faster. "Alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just please, go now!" Mikaela muttered. Just then, the door opened and the sound of Alice and Lily's happy laughter flooded the room. The laughter suddenly stopped as the two spotted the owl. "Oh! He's beautiful Miki!" Lily exclaimed. "Whose owl is that?" Miki could hear the hidden question in Alice's words. Mikaela glanced at them and back at the owl desperately. The owl stared back at her with contempt before pushing its talons off the window sill and expanding its wings, gracefully flying off.

Mikaela glared at the bird for leaving her with the problem of having to explain its presence to Lily, who would no doubt be very curious about it. "Ohh, I was hoping to get a closer look at him. Do you know what kind of owl that is? Whose owl is that anyway?" Mikaela blinked, bemused at Lily's reaction but relieved at the same time. '_Crisis averted!' _she thought, congratulating herself. Classic Lily being more interested in the owl itself more than whose it was or what it was doing in Mikaela's room. Mikaela caught Alice's eye and subtly jerked her head towards her cupboard. Alice got the hint and walked over to Mikaela's cupboard and opened it. "Lily come over here, we need to help Miki find an outfit, remember?" Alice said, successfully distracting Lily. "Oh yes, that's right," Lily checked her watch, "oh shoot, you've got twenty minutes until dinner." Mikaela's eyes grew wide, "what?" she yelled and started zooming around her room, muttering things to herself. Alice and Lily looked at each other, shaking their heads at her behaviour. Lily walked over and grabbed Mikaela by the shoulders, "Miki! It's okay, we have time. We'll make it work," she soothed. Mikaela took a deep breath and nodded, sitting on her bed. "Now," Lily said, "I'm going to go check on Kirra. Alice, you find that outfit and Miki, get your stuff together so you can shower as soon as Kirra's done." She left the room once more leaving Alice and Mikaela alone.

Alice opened the door and looked around to make sure that Lily was out of earshot before her and Mikaela started discussing MAML. She cast a quick _muffliato_ on the room just to be sure. She went and sat in front of Mikaela on the bed, "Was that Remus' owl?" she asked. "Yes! Great job on distracting her by the way," "I try." They grinned at each other before Mikaela continued, "Anyway, he said that they're in but that Sirius has some worries about it. Apparently Sirius is saying that he won't help us unless we do what he says pretty much." "Seriously?" "Here, read the letter" Mikaela handed her the letter. Alice read it, pursing her lips in thought once she had finished. "Hmm, well I'm sure it won't be anything weird or unreasonable. It's an odd request...or threat, according to that letter, from Sirius." "You're right. In any case, I haven't sent a proper reply back yet, I heard you guys coming down the hall so I had to postpone sending the details. I just sent Remus a letter saying we'd get back to him about it." "Oh okay, well did you want me to write one while you find an outfit? Or should I find you an outfit while you write back?" Alice asked, standing up. "Wait, what are the details? How are we meeting with them without James and Lily?" Mikaela stood up and, after walking back to her cupboard, started rifling through the copious amounts of clothing within it. "Okay, how about you write the reply while I try and find an outfit. You just need to say yes or no, okay?" "Aye, aye, Captain!" Alice said, mock-saluting her back. "I saw that." Alice smiled sweetly, "I didn't do anything." "What a liar. Anyway, the plan is that I'm going to ask mum if we can all hang at the beach after dinner, you know, campfire, marshmallows – all that jazz. When she says yes we can send Lily and James to the beach first, tell them to find a spot for us while we grab the supplies. Then we'll have the meeting."

Alice frowned, "Okay, but what guarantees that your mum says yes? And won't they get suspicious that we're sending only the two of them? We don't really need that many people to grab some food..."

Mikaela turned around, holding a form-fitting blue cocktail dress in front of her figure, "What about this?"

"Too formal. Now answer my question."

Mikaela threw the dress aside and continued rummaging through the cupboard, "Mum's fine if we do whatever so long as we tell her where we're going and around what time we'll be back. And if you really think they're going to get suspicious we can send someone else with them. I know, we can send Kirra and Peter with them!"

Alice, seeing that Mikaela was getting nowhere with her search, put the letter she had been holding aside and stood up to help her. She waved her wand and muttered a quick spell, nodding in satisfaction as the giant mound of clothes that was beginning to build up instantly cleared, setting themselves in a neat pile of folded clothes on the bed. Next, she grabbed Mikaela and spun her around, "Go sit down, silly girl. I've got it covered." Mikaela sat down and observed as Alice waved her wand again and clothes started aligning themselves into prospective outfits in the air. "...Or I could've done that" she sighed. Alice chuckled, "You're useless when you're stressed out. Now, look at these outfits while you tell me how sending Kirra and Peter is going to help us when it makes the whole plan of us having a meeting and Lily and James being excluded out of it. Make it snappy since Lily will probably be back with Kirra at any time now and we still need to reply to Remus."

"Ew. I'm not wearing that shirt. Actually, just take out everything green." A number of green clothes flew removed themselves from the outfits and folded themselves, landing in a small pile on the bed.

"As for the plan, it's perfect! We can send Peter and Kirra with them so that they don't get suspicious and once they find a spot, Peter and Kirra can tell them that they'll go back and get us to lead us there. Really though, Kirra and Peter will go and hide somewhere to watch them. This gives Lily and James a chance to interact. While all that's happening, we'll be here at the house having the meeting where we'll explain all the logistics to the boys and also what Lily told us about. Tell Remus that we'll show them the memory of what happened at the Leaky Cauldron this afternoon. Once we're done we can send a message to Kirra and Peter to come and get us."

"Right, well that sounds good. Except that won't it be weird that Peter and Kirra come to find us when they could just send us a patronus? Peter might not know how to do one but Kirra and Lily definitely know how to. James probably does too."

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you, this neighbourhood has both a muggle and a magical community. While we're fine to do magic in the house, the beach would be too exposed. I'll warn them before they leave for the beach."

Alice stopped flicking through the outfits to stare at Mikaela. "Wow. I must say, this plan is actually pretty brilliant." They both grinned at each other again. "Right," Alice said, "I've narrowed it down to these 20 outfits, you look through them while I write back to Remus. If you can't decide, make it a process of elimination, discard the outfits you definitely won't wear and then we can decide from there."

"Thanks Ali! You're a lifesaver."

Alice sat down and _accio_'ed a quill and some parchment. She wrote:

_Remus,_

_Mikaela would like to apologise for the delay, unfortunately when your owl arrived Lily was about to enter her room and as such she had to send that small note instead of the details._

_The plan is for tonight is that following dinner we go to the beach. We will send James, Lily, Peter and Kirra to find a spot at the beach first while the rest of us stay here at the house to get supplies – whilst also conducting the first meeting of MAML. Peter and Kirra need to find a way to break away from the other two (we will explain how this is to happen to Kirra) in order to watch how they interact with each other and report back to us._

_This will give them time to themselves and also allow us to discuss what happens next with MAML._

_You probably have a lot of questions but for now, this is all you need to know. Let us take care of the rest. However, if there are any pressing questions it's probably better to wait and ask us at dinner (somehow). Lily should be coming back any time now and we won't be able to reply to you while she's here. Also, she's very curious about your owl. She may ask you about it later._

_See you at dinner,_

_Alice._

* * *

><p>The girls came out of Mikaela's room, each looking stunning and all of them talking and laughing happily as they usually did. James watched Lily laugh, her head thrown back with a wide grin on her face, fiery, curling locks falling gracefully over her shoulder, and couldn't help the smile that spread across his own face. Her smile had always been contagious.<p>

Sirius wolf-whistled, drawing the girls' attention. They looked up in surprise, "Hey guys! When did you get up here?" Mikaela asked. Sirius winked at her and said, "That's for us to know and you to find out!"

The rest of the teens looked at him with blank faces. Even James looked over to his mate with a quizzical brow raised, "not one of your best mate." He remarked

Sirius pouted, "it was funny to me okay." The others chuckled at him and Remus patted him on the back in comfort.

"Seriously though, how long have you guys been here?" Lily asked

This time James winked at her and said, "Well, since we all know a gentleman never keeps a lady waiting, we decided to come early."

Lily rolled her eyes, "The only gentleman I see here is Remus, so I wouldn't expect you to know about chivalry Jamie-pie"

James poked his tongue out at her immaturely. "Exhibit A," Lily said smugly to the others, pointing at him.

While all this had been happening, Kirra had gone into the kitchen and came back out with a small bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate. As she walked back to the group, sitting around in front of the bookcase/entertainment cabinet, Alice noticed what she was eating and let out a short burst of laughter. "Kirra, you know we're eating dinner soon right?"

Kirra, through a mouthful of chocolate replied, "DINNER IS LATE. WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO WAIT FOR IT?"

Suddenly Sirius interjected, "WOMAN. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM?" He indicated to the chocolate bar, eyes wide with envy. Kirra nodded her head in the right direction and mumbled, "kitchen?"

Sirius' and Peter's jaws dropped, "YOU GUYS HAVE YOUR OWN KITCHEN?" they asked simultaneously. Even Remus looked impressed. Kirra nodded and motioned to the three boys to come and see it. Mikaela, seeing an opportunity, decided to leave the lovebirds alone.

"Hey guys, Alice and I are going to go see what's taking so long with dinner. Be back soon!" With that, she grabbed a slightly confused Alice and went downstairs. Both James and Lily watched them leave, knowing that without their friends to act as a barrier they both might have to face the thoughts they'd been avoiding all day.

James was the first to make a move, clearing his throat and casting a scrutinising look at Lily. Lily looked back at him with a seemingly calm facade. He raised his eyebrow at her in a silent question – _Are we okay?_

Lily smiled back at him and inclined her head in affirmation. James grinned his usual cheeky grin and opened his arms to her for a hug, this time wiggling his eyebrows at her – _You know you want to!_ Lily rolled her eyes but her smile grew wider despite herself, and she found herself in his arms. Even if, sometimes, this boy made her want to strangle him, it was moments like these that she knew she'd never give up on their friendship.

Of course, James had to ruin the moment by tickling her mercilessly. Lily squealed involuntarily and jumped away from him. She glared as he had the audacity to pretend to look innocent. "This is war Potter" she growled, and proceeded to throw a pillow at his face.

The others in the kitchen, having heard the commotion, arrived back at the main room to find various pillows strewn about the room and James chasing Lily as the redhead screamed and ran away, chucking pillows behind her in an attempt to deter her pursuer.

"...We left them alone for like 5 minutes..." Kirra-lee said. The four stood in silence for a few seconds before Sirius said, "...who wants to sit on the couch and watch the show?" Peter started for the couch calling out "I've got the popcorn!"

_15 minutes later_...

As Alice and Mikaela reached the landing on the girls' floor, they were shocked to find a red-faced Lily pinned underneath James, who was tickling her mercilessly as she weakly attempted to fight him off, and the rest of the group sitting on the couch opposite the pair, laughing as they watched the scene in front of them. Looking at each other, they shook their heads in exasperation before moving in to save Lily.


End file.
